Review: Blysh Night at the Circus at the Wales Millennium Centre

Liz Day reviews the Blysh Night at the Circus at the Wales Millennium Centre

Blysh Night at the Circus looked set to be one of the highlights of Wales Millennium Centre’s festival of circus, cabaret and street art, but sadly, it struggled to live up to expectations.

The individual acts were very impressive, but the format was extremely frustrating. The show was about an hour and a half long, but only 25 minutes of that was actual performance, which left the audience feeling a bit short-changed.

There were five acts – aerial nets, acro-balance, silks, aerial hoop and fire - and each act was about five minutes long, with a 15 minute interval between each. This left the rather bored audience members looking at their watches and playing with their phones.

At one point, a frustrated punter decided he’d had enough of waiting and took to the empty stage to walk on his hands. Although this provoked much clapping and cheering, when you’ve paid £12 for a ticket, you shouldn’t have to rely on an audience member for the entertainment!

The time between acts did make for some good people watching though. This show certainly wasn’t for everyone and one couple spent the first two acts with their fingers in their ears, before popping out and returning with some earplugs.

As they sat back down, a performer in a purple leopard skin catsuit danced on to the stage as Alice Cooper blared out. This proved too much for the pair, who left after the third act.

This was probably for the best, as they might not have enjoyed the next act, which did indeed leave a few people blushing as two female acrobats kissed while spinning on an aerial hoop.

Although not for the prudish, this was a stand-out act for me, as the choreography was stunning and the two acrobats made their routine look so effortless and seductive.

The grad finale was an impressive spectacle of fire performance, including fire eating, fire dance and fire hooping. One of the performers was lifted into the air while holding two fans of flames, which made her look like a giant firefly, as she twirled and somersaulted.

The baroque-themed Spiegeltent, with its opulent fabrics and intricate carvings, added to the drama of the performance and gave the show a feeling of intimacy.

Overall, the individual performances at Blysh Night at the Circus were very impressive, but the waiting between acts was hugely frustrating. Despite that, I would still be keen to see the group’s full show Midnight Circus, which the excerpts were taken from.

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